Dongchimi is also fermented as other varieties of kimchi, but its maturing period is relatively short (2~3 days). Korean people sometimes make dongchimi right before gimjang cheol (hangul 김장철, a season to make kimchi, usually in last autumn) comes. Especially ibuk jibang (hangul 이북지방: referring to Hamgyeong-do, Pyeongan-do in North Korea) is famous for its dongchimi.[2]

With its cool and clear brine, dongchimi is used as a soup for making dongchimi guksu (동치미국수 Korean cold noodle soup made with dongchimi), and naengmyeon (냉면, Korean cold noodle soup), or served when people eat tteok (떡, Korean rice cake) or steamed sweet potato.